It does not take long for the basketball seasons to get exciting.

This Friday, our No. 17 ranked boys travel to No. 6 Pike in a highly-anticipated game while our girls hosts No. 2 Lawrence North in a game that could help decide the conference championship.

If that isn’t enough fun, the boys then host one of the top young teams in the state Saturday when Southport comes calling.

After the win against Northwest last Saturday the Ben Davis boys are even more excited for the season. Coach Mark James was pleased with the season-opening 82-44 win but sees areas for improvement.

“I thought we played hard and did a great job throwing the extra pass to try and find the open man,” James said. “As a team we need to be aware of details and controlling the things we can against Pike and Southport.”

James is aware of how good Pike and Southport are and he views this as a crucial early season test.

“If we take care of the ball, shoot more free throws and outrebound the other team we always have a great chance of winning,” he said.

James was pleased with the uptempo pace he team play with at Northwest.

“I like these young men,” James said. “They always try to please and they are trying do what we ask of them. They do not make mistakes on purpose. If we control our attitudes, effort and think of the team first I feel we can be competitive this year on a very tough schedule.”

While the boys battle a tough Pike team, the girls will be hosting one of the best teams in the state in No. 2 ranked Lawrence North. Coach Joe Lentz has faith in his girls to upset the Wildcats this Friday at Ben Davis.

“Our primary focus as always is to improve our play in every area,’’ Lentz said.

Lentz looks for his lady Giants to play excellent defense, execute offensively and keep turnovers to a minimum.

‘’Lawrence North is a very talented and athletic team and will test us in all of these areas,’’ Lentz said.

The lady Giants are off to a 3-1 start but realize Friday will be their toughest test of the season.

“We will try to use our size to our advantage by controlling the boards and frcing them to shoot from farther out than they are use to,” Lentz said. “We will make small adjustments for our opponents but the most important thing that we must do is focus on our process and what we want to do.”